PAKISTANI authorities have launched an investigation after a suicide bomber blew up an explosives-laden vehicle near a railway as a passenger train passed by in the south-western city of Quetta today.

The attack in the capital of Balochistan province killed at least 23 people and wounded over 70 others, officials said.

It happened in an area where security forces are usually stationed, badly damaging several nearby buildings and smashing more than a dozen parked vehicles.

Local hospitals received the wounded, with 20 in critical condition. 

The outlawed Baloch Liberation Army, which demands independence from Pakistan’s central government, claimed responsibility for the attack: the group said it targeted a train carrying security personnel.

Oil- and mineral-rich Balochistan has long been the scene of a low-level insurgency. 

“We strongly condemn the targeting of innocent civilians and are deeply saddened by the loss of precious human lives. Terrorist elements deserve no leniency,” said Shahid Rind, Balochistan provincial government spokesman.

The authorities claim to have subdued the insurgency but, despite this, violence in Baluchistan has persisted.